As of December 2020, we are still under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a considerable impact on the services and work styles provided by companies.
In this situation, DX (digital transformation) is attracting more attention as a keyword for improving the value of companies. In this page, we will describe what DX means for companies and the role of workflows which supports the implementation of DX.
What kind of DX should companies aim for?
The letters “DX” originally meant IT penetration improving people’s lives.
In recent years, it has come to be used in the business world to mean creating new value and business models through digitization. This definition can also be found in the report by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry titled, Assessment Indices for Digital Management Reforms (“DX Promotion Indices”) Compiled. The report says that Japanese companies need to swiftly advance digital transformation (DX) to maintain or enhance their competitiveness.
On the other hand, the report also says that Japanese companies are facing difficulties in promoting DX because their digitization has become an end rather than a means, or the environment to achieve DX is not in place. This means that many companies in Japan are hesitating to adopt digitization which is the precondition for DX, or they feel that digitization is not so effective even though they have already implemented it.
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Digitization that utilizes IT effectively is essential to achieve DX and change the business models described in the previous section.
Actually, many of the companies that have achieved DX utilize IT effectively and provide society with brand new business models in their industry. In order to utilize IT effectively, setting appropriate goals, organizing, and understanding business processes accurately is essential because some key points for utilizing IT become clear only when these issues are resolved.
For that, the workflow is a key tool.
Workflow means a flow of operations or its visual representation. Recently, computer systems for managing Workflows (Workflow systems) are also sometimes referred to as workflows.
Every operation consists of a single piece of work, called a “Task”, and the workflow is what connects and visualizes them. (That’s how we will define it in this article)
Creating a workflow and visualising the flow of operations will help you to better understand the key points of digitization and adopt IT more effectively.
Digitizing a workflow
Incidentally, there are various notations for workflows, such as BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation). They define the method of how to draw a diagram and you can create workflows with just a pen and paper if you learn these conventions.
However, it is a tough task to describe, modify and share complex business processes using only a pen and paper.
Therefore, you need to digitize the workflow. To do this software called BPM tools (BPMS/BPM Suite) are very helpful.
BPM is a sort of business management that will constantly improve your business. With BPM tools you can easily create a workflow on a computer in accordance with the idea of BPM and proceed with your business accordingly.
The BPM tools can also help you change and share visualized business processes smoothly. BPM tools will store data about the business processes you’ve performed so that you can easily access past cases.
The METI’s report mentioned in the previous section pointed out the following issues which many Japanese companies are facing: their managers often assign IT system-related matters to the IT department without trying to understand what the IT system is. However, BPM tools that are user-friendly for non-IT people will help them understand business processes and systems.
Incidentally, the term “workflow system” described earlier is sometimes applied as a generic name for software that creates and manages workflows on a computer. Although there are some ambiguities between workflow systems and BPM tools, BPM tools are software that functions as a workflow system and also focuses on automated collaboration and synchronization.
Questetra BPM Suite, as the first step to achieve DX
Questetra BPM Suite is a BPM tool that automatically builds systems based on an idealized workflow.
Questetra BPM Suite helps you create workflows and systematic automation, such as cloud linkages simply with a mouse. Therefore, even people who are not familiar with system development can easily use BPM tools to visualize and improve their business efficiency.
Many BPM tools are hard to set up, as they require connection to a server to be configured, but Questetra BPM Suite as a cloud service is available immediately after you apply for the service. In addition, if you’re connected to the Internet you can easily access and work on your office’s system at home or when traveling.
Cloud-type BPM tools are not only helpful to reduce deployment costs but are suitable for various work styles such as telecommuting. To create new value for your company with DX, we recommend you try Questetra BPM Suite. We offer a 60-day-trial for free so that you can start with easy-to-understand processes.